Grammar ReferenceLevel 2

Unit 1
Simple pastaffirmative statements, regular and irregular forms
Regular verbs
Base form
want, study, chat

Irregular verbs *

Simple past form

wanted, studied, chatted

Base form
read, find, meet

Simple past form

read, found, met

*See past tense endings of other irregular verbs on page 127 of the Students Book.

Simple pastquestions and negative statements

be
The TV show wasnt very good.

Other verbs
The Web site didnt have many games.

Yes/No questions

Was it fun?
Yes, it was./No, it wasnt.

Did you send an e-mail?

Yes, I did./No, I didnt.

Information questions

How was the concert?

What did you watch? Where did you go?

Negative statements

Past progressive
We use the past progressive to describe a longer action in the past.

Affirmative/Negative
statements

I/He/She/It was/was not (wasnt) playing a game.

You/We/They were/were not (werent) playing a game.

Yes/No questions
Was
Were

I/he/she/it
you/we/they

Short answers
Yes, I/he/she/it was. / No, I/he/she/it wasnt.
Yes, you/we/they were. / No, you/we/they werent.

playing a game?

Unit 2
Comparatives with as as/not as as
1 We use as as to say that two things share a similar characteristic, e.g., Swimming is as healthy as tennis.
2 We use not as as to say that two things are different, e.g., Karate is not as difficult as judo.

Superlatives
To form the superlative, we use the + the superlative form of the adjective.

One-syllable adjectives

For most, add est, e.g., oldoldest, newnewest.

For adjectives that end consonant-vowel-consonant,
double the final consonant and add est, e.g., thinthinnest, hothottest.

Two-syllable adjectives ending in y

Adjectives with two or more syllables
Irregular adjectives

Change the y to i and add est, e.g., happyhappiest, easyeasiest

Use most or least, e.g., importantmost important, interestingleast interesting
There are some irregular superlative adjectives, e.g., goodbest, badworst

Exceptions

Some short adjectives, e.g., fun, and real are used with more/most
and not est, e.g., Concerts are the most fun in the summer.

Unit 3
Possessive pronouns
1 Possessive adjectives are used before a noun, e.g., This is my passport.
2 Possessive pronouns do not have nouns following them, e.g., This passport is mine.

Possessive adjectives
Possessive pronouns

my
mine

your
yours

his
his

her
hers

its
its

our
ours

your
yours

their
theirs

Whose ?
We use whose to ask about possession. We often use this/that/these/those with Whose ?,
e.g., A
 : Whose suntan lotion is this? B: Its mine.
A: Whose shoes are those? B: Theyre his.

D.R. Macmillan Publishers, S.A. de C.V. 2010

Grammar ReferenceLevel 2
Modals of permission and request
Modals of permission and request (can, could, may) are followed by the base form.

Questions

Affirmative

Short answers

Permission

May, can, and could are all used to

ask for permission. May is more formal,
e.g., May/Can/Could I ask you something?

Only can is used for

the affirmative, e.g., You can
get the bus to the airport.

Only can is used for

short answers, e.g., Yes, you can./
No, you cant.

Request

Only can and could are used for requests,

e.g., Can/Could you turn off the light?

Unit 4
Present perfectever/never
1 We use the present perfect to say that an action happened at some time before now. The exact time the action happened
is not known or is not important.
2 We form the present perfect with the verb have plus the past participle. We use ever to ask about a persons experiences
before now. We use never to give a negative response, e.g., I have never won the lottery.

Affirmative/Negative
statements
Yes/No questions
Have
Has

I/You/We/They have/havent won the lottery.

He/She/It has/hasnt won the lottery.

Short answers

I/you/we/they
Yes, I/you/we/they have. / No, I/you/we/they havent.
(ever) won the lottery?
he/she/it
Yes, he/she/it has. / No, he/she/it hasnt.
To form the past participle of regular verbs, use the simple past form. *

*See past participles of other irregular verbs on page 127 of the Students Book.

Present perfectHow long/for/since

1 We use the present perfect + for + a period of time, e.g., Ive lived here for six months.
2 We use the present perfect + since + a specific date, year, month, day, or time, e.g., Ive lived here since 2005.

Unit 5
Present perfect vs. simple past
1 We use the present perfect to refer to events that happened at a non-specific time in the past, e.g., Ive seen this movie before.
2 We use the simple past to give details about specific events in the past, e.g., I saw this movie last Friday.

Modals of advice and warning

Modal

Use

Affirmative

Negative

Question

should
+ base form

advice/
recommendations

You should explain why

you think the music is good.

You shouldnt buy a CD player.

Theyre out of date.

What kind of MP3 player should

I buy? Should I buy it online?

had/d better
+ base form

warning

You had/Youd better

compare prices online.

You had/Youd better not

buy a CD player.

ought
+ to + verb

advice/
recommendations

You ought to compare

prices online.

Unit 6
Direct and indirect objects
Sentences often have two objects, a direct object and an indirect object. The indirect object usually refers to a person and it usually
comes before the direct object. The indirect object usually comes before the direct object, but it can come after it if we use a particle.

Indirect object

Direct object

our friends/them
a gift

a gift.

We bought
We bought

for them.

Separable phrasal verbs with direct objects

Verb + particle + noun
Verb + noun + particle
I put up the shelves.

Particle and indirect object

I put the shelves up.

Verb + pronoun + particle

I put them up.
D.R. Macmillan Publishers, S.A. de C.V. 2010

Grammar ReferenceLevel 2
Unit 7
too/(not) enough/really/very
too/really/very + adjective

(not +) adjective + enough

The beef is too salty. (= more than it should be)

The pie is sweet enough. (= sufficient)

The vegetables are really good.(= extremely)

The potatoes arent soft enough. (= less than they should be)

The soup isnt very hot.

Note: too, really, and very come before the adjective; enough follows the adjective.

How much/How many and quantifiers

With count nouns

With noncount nouns

How many cans of soda do you drink?

I drink a few cans a week.
I drink a lot of/many cans a week.
I need to eat fewer chips.
You should eat more vegetables.
I dont eat many cookies.

How much soda do you drink?

I like a little salt on my food.
I use a lot of sugar in my coffee.
I should eat less junk food.
You ought to eat more protein.
I dont eat much fat.

Unit 8
Phrases of preference
Affirmative
Negative
Question
Short answer

would like + infinitive

Id (I would) like to go dancing.
I wouldnt like to go dancing.
Would you like to go dancing?

would prefer + infinitive

Id prefer to go out to dinner.
I would prefer not to go out to dinner.
Would you prefer to go out to dinner?
Yes, I would./No, I wouldnt.

would rather + base form

Id rather go to a party.
I would rather not go to a party.
Would you rather go to a party?

Negative yes/no questions

The function of a negative question is to check or confirm information.

Negative questions with be

Negative questions with auxiliaries

Isnt Steve going out with Laura?

Doesnt Julia Roberts have twins?

Wasnt that guy in our biology class?

Didnt Lance get married last year?

Werent you at Chips yesterday?

Havent you asked Marcia out yet?

Arent you going to Joes wedding?

Shouldnt we get them a wedding present?

Unit 9
will and going to
1 We use will to make predictions about the future, but not to talk about plans.
2 We use going to to make predictions about the future and also to talk about plans.
3 We use will to volunteer or express willingness.
4 We often use will with words like definitely and probably, e.g., It will probably rain tomorrow.

Modals of possibilitymay, might, will

Form

Use

Example

may (not)/
might (not)

to talk about things that are possible in the present

or the future but which we are not sure about

I may (might) apply to graduate school next year.

will (ll)/
will not (wont)

to talk about things in the future

we are sure or almost sure about

I will/Ill get a part-time job in the summer.

I may not (might not) go on vacation this year.

I will not/wont have time for a vacation.

D.R. Macmillan Publishers, S.A. de C.V. 2010

Grammar ReferenceLevel 2
Unit 10
Present tense with future meaning
1 We use the simple present to refer to the future when we are talking about a definite schedule or timetable.
2 We use the present progressive to refer to the future when we are talking about a plan or intention.

Simple present
Present progressive

It starts at 8.
Im coming by bus.

It doesnt finish until 1 a.m.

He isnt driving tonight.

What time does the party end?

How are you getting to the party on Friday?

Modals of offercan/could/will
We use can, could, and will to offer to do something.

Affirmative
Question

I can make the cake.

Can I do anything?

I could bring my MP3 player.

Could I help with the music?

Ill bring some snacks.

Unit 11
Simple present passive
1 We use the passive when the person who does something is not known or is not important.
2 We also use the passive when the person or thing receiving the action (i.e., the object of the active sentence) is more important
than the thing doing the action.
3 We form the simple present passive using the simple present form of the verb be and the past participle.

Statement

With modals

Question

Active sentence They make the Cookmate from plastic. You can download recipes. Do they produce the Cookmate here?
Are they produced here?
Passive sentence The Cookmate is made of plastic. Recipes can be downloaded.
Note: When we want to say who does/did something, we use by, e.g., The Cookmate is made by KPG Electronics.
Simple past passive
Affirmative
Active sentence
Passive sentence

Question

Two students created Google .

Google was created by two students.
TM

When did they first sell music CDs?

When were music CDs first sold?

Unit 12
Zero and first conditionals
1 We use the zero conditional to talk about things that are generally true.
2 We use the first conditional to talk about real possibilities.

Zero conditional pattern

Example

If + simple present, simple present

If + simple present, may/might/can + base verb

If you go online, you get better prices.

If you go online, you may/might/can get better prices.

First conditional pattern

Example

If + simple present, will + base form

If you ask him, hell help you.
Note: When the if clause comes second in the sentence, dont use a comma, e.g., Hell help you if you ask him.

Review of future forms

Use

Example

Use may, might, and will to make predictions about the future.

Mom might ground me if I dont do some work.

Use going to to make predictions about the future

and to talk about our plans and intentions.

Its going to rain. Were going to play soccer on Saturday.

Use the present progressive to talk about plans and intentions.

Jan is having a party on Friday night.

Use the simple present to talk about things that happen

in the future at a specific time on a schedule.

My plane leaves at 6:30 a.m.

D.R. Macmillan Publishers, S.A. de C.V. 2010